I think I have a reasonable amount of distance, not being in the same situation, but I would probably do the same thing (albeit with different timing), and I would consider it: 1) the rational decision; and 2) the fault of the U.S. federal government, and indirectly the American public for its fetish for jailing people. I don't have any interest in spending decades in prison, and I would commit suicide to avoid it, if I did not think there was another way of avoiding it. And I think that would be a rational decision, at least for my own personal utility function. So I wasn't at all surprised when I saw this news, though I was saddened: I would've given it about 1/3 each odds if you asked me in 2011, whether somehow charges would be dismissed/reduced, whether he'd commit suicide, or whether he'd end up as a hacker cause célèbre in prison. I do agree that we don't know with any degree of certainty what Swartz's own reasons were.
I think it's tricky to appeal to the irrational pessimism of depression without actual evidence that, in a given case, it was irrational. Depression can trick you into incorrectly thinking that a situation has no way out, but that's only relevant if, viewed rationally by someone not suffering from depression, there actually is a way out. In that case, treatment can solve the problem. But treatment can only dispel pseudo-dead-ends where the "depression was speaking", so to speak, which weren't really dead ends; it can't manufacture a way out of actual dead ends, like impending lengthy imprisonment.
You conjecture that death might be preferable to decades of incarceration. Sure, if that's an accurate assessment of the options.
But Aaron was still months from being tried or (if found guilty) sentenced. Even being sentenced doesn't mean serving the sentence is a certainty, after potential appeals, suspensions, pardons.
We can see from Aaron's writings (including those long after the prosecution began) that he was endeavoring to "think better", to improve himself, and to "invent new options" rather than just accepting the tradeoffs presented to him.
The choice to exit the situation, by ending life itself, isn't quite consistent with those other expressed perceptions and preferences. (Perhaps those other expressions were themselves simply products of passing moods, or a calculated facade, but we have to assign them about as much credibility, as expressions of Aaron's rational thinking, as his suicide itself.)
Such inconsistency suggests to me that the suicide decision was the result of an irrational and possibly transient mood problem, and an erroneous assessment of likely future legal/incarceration outcomes.
(If some deep, emotional portion of the decisionmaking machinery goes wrong, and 'chooses' death, then subsequent painting-in of all the reasons that death is or might be a reasonable course can be an expression of choice-supportive biases. And we, as outsiders running little simulations of what we might do in similar situations, can suffer the same bias, along the lines of: "A smart guy killed himself, he must have had good reasons. I'll keep thinking until I find them.")
There could of course be other factors that outsiders don't know: other personal or health issues, things that made even the "beats this federal rap" future seem less appealing. But legal persecution and the potential for imprisonment aren't, before trial and given Aaron's other writings, a rational basis or sufficient explanation for early final exit. A recurrent or chronic mood problem is a sufficient explanation.
Maybe it's because I love life so much that I don't think I would choose suicide over prison. Even if you get sent to prison, that doesn't mean you will be there your entire life. You can still appeal, work towards getting out faster. You can still educate yourself in prison, stay active.
In other words, instead of laying down/giving up/killing myself, I would like to think I would fight my oppressors and protect my rights to be alive and happy by whatever means necessary.
Someone mentioned victim-blaming, and perhaps this has transformed into a discussion of suicide "victims" in general rather than Swartzs specific case. I mean no disrespect to the memory of Aaron Swartz, but I do feel compelled to say that given the choice of (a) killing yourself or (b) not killing yourself, one of these choices illuminate your personal fortitude and character.
I can see that argument, but I guess I just don't think I'd personally make that decision in the case of lengthy imprisonment. It's probably a laudable one, but my interest in not spending decades in a claustrophobic situation without freedom, subject to what seem like fairly frightening possibilities (high prevalence of prison rape, etc.) would likely outweigh my desire to live an inspiring life as a prison activist. I think the fact that you can't change your mind later is what frightens me about it in particular. If, a few years in, it's so horrible that I really would rather be dead, it's too late to do anything about it at that point; once you go in, there really is no escape.
In just about any other case I would agree with your assessment of the choice, though. Most seemingly hopeless situations are really not hopeless.
Remember, studies show that even people not suffering from depression significantly overestimate how much specific severe future events will affect their life satisfaction, good or bad. (Winning a lottery, losing a limb, achieving a life goal, being imprisoned, etc.) It'd be a shame to take an irreversible final step, because of a relatively simple and well-understood short-term bias.
The idea of a long prison sentence is certainly a frightening thought. Weighing that against the idea of not existing and never existing again. There are very few situations I can imagine where death would be preferable than enduring. Being tortured with no chance for escape comes to mind and I can imagine I would welcome death to escape the agony.
Perhaps personally I am angry at Aaron for giving up, and this makes me selfish.
I guess I can understand people wanting to find someone to blame, because putting the blame on someone you love, in this case Aaron, is a lot harder. We would rather sympathize with his situation and forgive him for his actions. He was only human after all.
This seems like a very ignorant post that completely overlooks the realities of suffering from depression (and other mental disorders). Stating that you 'love life so much' just goes to highlight how little you seem to understand what you speak of and how little you've bothered to inform yourself.
anatoli, I think flipper28 was responding to _delirium's statement that suicide would be a "rational decision" for him/her in this situation based on a calculation of utilities. This is, as we know, not the usual way that people determine to commit suicide.
I think it's tricky to appeal to the irrational pessimism of depression without actual evidence that, in a given case, it was irrational. Depression can trick you into incorrectly thinking that a situation has no way out, but that's only relevant if, viewed rationally by someone not suffering from depression, there actually is a way out. In that case, treatment can solve the problem. But treatment can only dispel pseudo-dead-ends where the "depression was speaking", so to speak, which weren't really dead ends; it can't manufacture a way out of actual dead ends, like impending lengthy imprisonment.